Commodore Dominque Loye
looked about the flag bridge of the PNS Chen
Wang, silently watching the hustle and bustle
of her staff from her high backed chair, all of them scurrying with
an urgency that she herself felt. Sitting back and trying to find a
comfortable position in the command chair, she eased her aching legs
into a more horizontal position and then stretched. She suddenly felt
a lance of pain from another muscle
pang in her left leg, muttering a curse she quickly bent down to
nurse the offending body part. As she sat back up, Loye briefly
looked over her uniform. The well designed gray and gold uniform of
the Pact Navy, with its six pips of Commodore rank, was looking
rather shabby, she thought to herself. Casually glancing around
Command she once again noticed the lack of female officers and crew.

It was highly unusual
that a woman, especially a black woman,
had attained flag rank in the Navy, for all of the Pact's military
services were not only highly xenophobic but quite sexist as well.
Leaning back in her chair, she began to strum her long nailed fingers
on the left armrest, pondering the current situation. Her staff was
busy all around her, preparing for the coming conflict and she was
grateful that she had had command of the oversized superdreadnought
division for nearly a year. During that time she had drilled them
ruthlessly in the lightly populated worlds of Guinea Cluster, forging
BatRon 221 into a fine sword, able to maneuver and fire at her
slightest command. Both her ship, the Louissant,
and the Renown had
just undergone major overhauls at Guinea Cluster Depot at Newport
News, which included the installation of the new and highly secret
Hypermass Generators.

She also had three
upgraded Bombard-class
destroyers and three recently modified Alert-class
destroyers acting as escorts for her much larger capital ships. An
outdated Centaur-class
tug and the Rainhorse,
a fat and ungainly marine transport and two medium-sized supply
freighters rounded out her small task force.

Dominique looked down
at her fingers, which had the unconscious habit of moving when she
was thinking, and forced them to stop. The massive new weapons made
her Resolute-class
superdreadnoughts even more deadly than before, for the huge amounts
of stellar matter they could concentrate and fire were highly deadly
to any ship or small craft which had the unfortunate chance of being
within its narrow firing arc. The technical team that had briefed
her, her officers, and crew on the new weapons were highly capable.
After that briefing, she was confident she would know how to use them
effectively when the time came. The Hypermass Generators were a very
short range, highly energy intensive system that would only fire for
150 seconds before shutting down in overheat.....and each of her SDs
only carried two. However, due to the massive gravitational pull of
the "hypermass", any small craft or fighter in the objects'
path would be instantly destroyed, and any warships would take heavy
damage.

She smiled to herself
then, for the Pact had just begun a massive civil war, with fighting
breaking out all over and she had been overly stressed for weeks.
They had been ordered to Trantor to form the core of a new loyal
battlegroup to defend that extremely vital system from attack when
she had been short-stopped in New Sweden. The local Skywatch
Commander, a short, cold hispanic woman named Gloria Hampden, had
informed her that the system was cut off from Maui Cluster(and her
destination) by rampaging Kangas. Their large colony at Goth Beg,
which was adjacent to New Sweden already had significant enemy forces
in it and the Maui Central Fleet was attempting to batter its way
into that system from neighboring Heinreich according to Fleet
courier drones and hyperwave broadcasts.

Unfortunately,
Dominque thought moodily, we can't go back the
way we came.

The high-population
Newterra System had revolted the moment she and her warships had
warped out to Yonup, and then to New Sweden. She had been working out
in the multi-grav gym earlier today when that
news had come. The furry three-armed Yonup
were non-technological aliens but she felt revulsion at the mere
thought of any alien
race, and she privately wanted to nuke them all from orbit. The
Onesiders were,
however, far more fanatical and deadly.

How in the hell do
they think they can get nearly forty billion people, "Back to
the earth"? she thought disgustedly.

She felt a sudden surge
in anger, and decidedly quelled it. No use in
getting angry now, the Doc says it ain't good for me,
she suddenly thought ruefully, and looked around the huge command
deck. Nearly sixty personnel and androids were assigned to Command,
and for good reason. Over five thousand people served on board a
superdreadnought, each of them having highly technical skills, and
her command staff needed to communicate effectively with all of them.

Hell, the new
hypermass technicians alone had come to over three hundred people,
Dominque thought to herself, reviewing the data in her head. As she
was mentally musing a rather large and brutish person appeared in her
line of sight, coming from the nearby holomatrix station.

For a moment, Commodore
Loye studied the officer intently. No one would mistake Commander(SG)
Mavvik Lo for anything else but a heavyworlder. His massive six foot
250kg frame and slow gate hid a surprising mind, but it was the small
red cross emblazoned on his forehead that clearly identified him not
only as a high-grav native but a Pilgrim. From his records she knew
that Mavvik had come from the Bennington Colony where many of the
survivors of the Pilgrim System Disaster had been relocated. Thinking
for a moment, she remembered from his file that Mavvik had nearly
starved to death on Bennington, as had many of the other Pilgrim
survivors, due to their high metabolisms and lack of hospitality by
the native populace. The destruction of their homeworld by a rogue
black hole was a real tragedy for his people, but many had wisely
enlisted in the Pact Navy after the catastrophe, including her first
officer.

Mavvik came to a stop
beside his Commodore and appeared to be thinking mightily. His
brutish features, which included huge black bushy eyebrows that
threatened to overrun his eyes, were quite stark in their appearance.
He almost looks like one of those ancient
caveman, she thought seriously to herself for
a moment.

Then Dominque smiled
inside and with a general wave of her hand towards the main viewers
said with irony, "You know....that woman down there is crazy."

Mavvik turned his
massive frame, easily two humans wide, and looked briefly at the
planet on the screen before slowly turning back to his superior
officer with a large grin on his face.

"Well, they do say
she has a hell of a temper Sir, so don't go gettin in any catfights
with their President. What will I say to the crew if you do?" he
said in his incredibly deep voice. A gleam in his eyes told Dominque
that he was nearly at the point of bursting out in laughter, for he
knew her very well. Her temper was legendary, and only her very hard
work and superior abilities in combat as well as her close
association with the famous Admiral Baranov, had gotten her this far
in spite of it.

"Well," she
said as she got out of her command chair, "I’d better get down
to the planet. Meetings' in two hours. Get the Task Force ready to
move to the Goth Beg warp point once I get back from seeing Chavez.
Oh, and don't sit in my chair Mav, your mashing the cushions."
As she walked to the transport tube that was to take her to the
docking bay, she heard a slight masculine chuckle from behind her.
She could tell, without looking at him, that her second in command
had proceeded to sit in her seat anyway.

My poor chair,
she thought with a muted laugh as she hit the transport call button.

=================================================

The click of high
heeled shoes echoed alongside that of three booted men, and President
Anita Chavez knew almost immediately as she turned down the stark
hallway leading to the conference room that it had been a mistake to
wear her stilettos. In a flowing blue-green gown with the Head of
State baton in her hand, the diminutive Anita looked absolutely small
in comparison to her newly-appointed Defense Minister and to the two
Marine guards escorting her to this important meeting. She had wanted
to appear taller than usual, but now, upon listening to the
clack-clack of her
shoes upon the red tiled floors, she felt foolish.

As she neared the tall,
gray doors, she glanced apprehensively at Mickey ("call me
Mack") Armstrong, who easily towered over her by nearly two
feet. His absolutely huge handlebar moustache was out of style within
the Pact's political elitists, but then again he was cut from a
different kind of cloth, having emigrated to New Sweden from Old
Earth's Texas province.

Anita hid a smile as
she thought of his absolutely hickish speech, a drawl that was barely
understandable to most listeners. She herself had a hard time
sometimes getting people to understand her hispanic accent as well.

Mick noticed a decrease
in speed Anita's speed as they neared the towering doors and looked
down at her. A former Marine, he was an old friend of Anita's and
knew what she was thinking.

"It's gonna be
aw'right 'Nita," he spoke in his slow Texas drawl.

She smiled at him
briefly, and then as the Marine guards moved to flank the doors, she
breathed a huge sigh of tension and entered the long, cold room.

Nearly instantly,
people who were scattered across the blue paneled room stopped
talking as she and Mick entered, all looking at her somewhat warily.
With a slight wave of her hand she motioned the seven other people in
the room to the chairs as she herself sat down and tried to get
comfortable in the heavy dress.

New Sweden was noted
for its extremely brutal winters and it was deep winter outside
Government House, with snow piling fifteen feet deep in some places.
Of course Anita Chavez had won her third term as President by
managing to bring the planet out of serious debt while at the same
time promoting social programs....including snow removal.

Again she smiled
briefly and took a quick look at the people present.

To her immediate right
was Mick, her new Defense Minister. He was currently reorganizing the
planet's security and armed forces in the face of the gravest threat
that New Sweden (and everyone else in this room in fact) had ever
faced. Yesterday he had begun a massive system-wide recruiting
campaign to enlist as many able bodies into the armed forces as
quickly as possible. She smiled hugely at him, a smile which he
returned with a wink, and she moved on.

Skywatch Commander
Gloria Hampden was a cold, silent person that Anita didn't know very
well at all. Before the Civil War broke out, she had few dealings
with the Admiral who guarded the entire system using fleet and
carrier bases. She normally preferred her defense liaison to
communicate with the short, hispanic woman. Clearly the Admiral was a
woman in her early fifties but she always seemed to have a somewhat
pained look on her face. Nonetheless, Hampden had the absolute
support of her underlings in Skywatch and agreed with Anita early on
that the system had to be protected, regardless of who was in charge.

Anita looked at the
small, oriental man to Gloria's right and tried hard not to let her
disgust show. Izo Yaizu was Hortalez et Cie's chief liaison to the
planetary government and she had dealt with him a few times. His vast
knowledge of corporate and military production would help New
Sweden's defense build-up a great deal, but he was a corporate hack
at heart, with a bigoted mindset as well, especially against women.

Maybe Clarence will
sit on him, Anita thought silently to herself
for a moment, then stifled a laugh. Clarence Ridgefield was the
President of one of New Sweden's largest banks and although he
weighed over 500 pounds, his mind was quick and his love of numbers
only barely outweighed his love of food. A mere thirty-nine years
old, Ridgefield's raw ability in banking would also help Anita's new
Defense Policy Council in the area of finances, and desperately
needed banking loans for the government.

Anita knew the man to
the right of Clarence very well; as he had been one of her
instructors at the University several years ago, and Anita had been
grateful that he had signed onto her new government. The man, Anwar
ibn Zha, was her newly appointed Foreign Minister and was well versed
in policy, philosophy, diplomacy, and interstellar law. He had been a
Professor Standing at NSU for nearly thirty years and was widely
known for his ability to speak nineteen different languages. He was
also, from what she had heard, quite a misogynist, even though he had
three wives. An arabic and Islamicist at heart, Anita had several
knock-down drag-out fights with the man over the last few weeks over
policy, especially where women were concerned, but he finally had
agreed to support her government, after she
had agreed to his substantial pay
requirements.

Commodore Dominque Loye
was quite a different character from ibn Zha, a black woman with
decades of combat experience under her belt. Anita didn't know her at
all, and it was only sheer luck that Batron 221 was passing through
New Sweden when the Pact-wide crisis had flared up. Anita had
short-stopped the Commodore(and her task force) and they were
currently the only mobile units in the New Sweden System. Although
she was an unknown element, Anita was grateful for her presence.

The older man to her
right was Senior Congressor Igor Petrov and he was Anita's
Legistlative Representative at the cabinet level. A tall, bald man
nearing 70, Igor was also a politically astute man, from Anita's
records. She had dealt with him several times while she had been in
office and knew that he could be counted on for political support and
government financing as the civil war ground on. His knowledge of the
NS political system and diverse government programs made him an
excellent choice for liaison in her opinion.

Finally, the small
balding man to Anita's immediate left was literally a godsend! How in
the world had she been so lucky to have this windfall land in her
lap? The Pact's leading military analyst, strategist, and weapons
expert, Dr. James Dunnigan was in neither military or government
service. He had been passing through New Sweden to his post at a
private think tank in the Mission Stars District, with a stop-over at
Trantor for an annual conference when New Sweden had been cut off
from the rest of Maui Cluster. His constant frown and lack of hair
didn't detract from respecting the man, since Anita had read some of
his luminary works. She was very grateful
for his presence.

"Well", she
said in a clear alto voice," let's get started. First I would
like to note for the record that their should be a Kona Tatsu
representative here today for this vital meeting, but we all know
what has happened with them recently". Anita's smile turned
tight lipped at this, for the Kona Tatsu was the dreaded secret
police of the Pact. But since the outbreak of the Civil War, the KT
had begun an obviously pre-planned movement of disappearing into the
woodwork of Pact society. The assassination of KT agents all across
the Pact as the Civil War erupted was a shock to that highly
regimented organization. Hundreds of visible KT in rebellious systems
were killed in the first weeks of the war, and they had suddenly gone
underground, striking at targets of opportunity and rebellious
leaders ever since. Although their was technically no official KT
representative present, any one of the people in the room could be
acting in their stead, or the conversation in the secured room could
simply be recorded.

"We are
a loyal system," Anita continued in a
stern voice, "We are part
of the Pact and will continue to be, regardless of whether we are out
of touch with the Cluster government or not. And this meeting is to
lay down strategy's for the defense of New Sweden, not to declare
independence". She strongly looked at all the people in the
room, but most of them wore unreadable faces.

Anita waited for a
moment for that to sink in and them sat back into her high-backed
velvet chair.

"Okay, this
meeting of the Defense Council is the first of it's kind. I know you
all are somewhat nervous in being in this position, as am I. But we
have two deadly threats to this system, and I won't just lie back and
let either annihilate us. We have eight billion
people here; we can and will defend
ourselves. So, Commodore Loye, will you begin?" Anita asked.

Clearing her throat and
pushing her coffee cup away from here, Commodore Dominique Loye sat
forward in her chair, crossing her fingers as she spoke, "Well
ma'am, my superdreadnoughts have received a substantial tech upgrade
a few months ago, and their firepower truly has to be seen to be
believed. With my three SD's mounting the new Hypermass Generators, I
believe I will be able to easily defend the Goth Beg warp point
against any attacking
Kanga forces." Her black face suddenly lit up with a brilliant
white ivory smile while Admiral Gloria Hampden across from her
snorted.

"Please,
Commodore," Hampden said with derision in her voice, "Three
superdreadnoughts aren't anywhere near
enough if the Kangas attack in force. Of course they are racial
cowards, but any sustained attack
will most likely break through unless we have more warships in the
line." Hampden's frown increased as she faced the Commodore
directly across the table.

Commodore Loye thought
for a moment and then said, "We'll see Admiral. I think what you
need is a tour of my ship and her new weapons," she said with a
slight sneer. The in-fighting between ships of the line and base
commanders throughout the Pact's 6,000 year history had always been
contentious, and this one seemed to be faring little better.

Turning to Anita, the
black woman continued, "We have also been cut off from Guinea
Cluster by Onesider's,
but the static defenses I am erecting on the closed warp point in the
Yonup System will effectively seal it. No warship will be able to
survive the mines and automated weapons we are emplacing there,
madam. I also want you to note that my three Bombard-class
destroyers have been upgraded to the B
version, with the installation of a large ADM
Bay. These bays, my friends, will be able to destroy enemy warships
engine rooms while leaving the ships themselves intact, awaiting our
recovery. We can refit any enemy vessels in half the time it will
take to build new warships. My Alert B-class
destroyers are equipped with a new vertical launch system that is
able to throw very heavy volleys of missiles.....for a limited time.
I also have a Centaur-class
tug with long-range scanning capability using a towed array system.
All of these systems, by the way, are highly classified and the specs
aren't widely know, but you Admiral,"
Loye said with a slight sneer back, "can look at the specs any
time you want."

The short, hispanic
woman, who had been lightly primping her hair into a bun, looked back
at the black woman with a glare, then continued to push stray hairs
out of her eyes at random.

Finally, I also have a
Roughneck-class Marine
attack transport with three regiments on board. Two supply ships also
round out my force, ma'am." Dominique finished, waited a moment
for any reply from the Governor, and then leaned back in her seat,
glowering at the woman across from her. Although technically an
Admiral, she wouldn't be able to command Loye's forces without Loye's
consent, something that wasn't likely to ever take place.

Anita smiled at the
Commodore, briefly thanked her, and then looked at Admiral Hampden,
who was still frowning.

"Well ma'am,"
the Admiral began, "the most important thing on my mind is the
defense of this system. As you know we haven't had a conflict in this
area of the Pact in nearly two thousand years,
so defenses here are very light: a few bases, but no PDCs or
automated weapons like minefields. I want permission to immediately
begin construction of mines, planetary fighters, and small warships
in the orbital slips."

Mick Armstrong broke
in for a moment, "Concentrating on traditional weapons will help
us fight off the Kangas, but what about those new orbital weapons
platforms we were talking about last week Admiral?"

The small hispanic
woman smiled at her immediate superior and then spoke, "I have
gone over it four times with the my staff, Sir. The power levels we
need just aren't there." She thought for a moment, then
continued, "The small orbital fort you proposed that is able to
fire hetlasers and proton torpedoes is just too large. I believe that
standard bases should be used to guard the planet, Sir."

She then went on, "I
would like to have this Council consider something for a moment. The
government in Maui Cluster has begun deploying a new class of
dreadnoughts; the so-called Medusa-class.
Now this ship has recently been fielded against Kanga forces with
outstanding success, but serious fighting within the Maui Naval
Command and the corporate government has hindered their ability to
crush the Kangas. The situation is growing worse, but I believe that
if we begin to lay down these warships, we can crush any
Kanga force that shoves it's nose through the
warp point, decisively."

No one spoke for a
moment, and then Defense Minister Armstrong skeptically asked,"
What makes you think that these dreadnoughts will be useful Admiral?
In my opinion, we need light warships and not ships of the line."

Gloria Hampden waited
and then spoke confidently, "Sir, the reports we are getting
about the Medusa-class
indicate that one dreadnought has the firepower to destroy a dozen
battlecruisers by itself using SBHAWKS." She let that sink in as
people in the room began chattering out loud.

At the head of the long
gray table, Anita's slightly rapped her baton on the table for
silence. The room quickly quieted down, and she turned to the
immensely obese man at the end of the table, "Clarence, can we
afford it?"

"Well, I would
like to look at the schematics and cost estimates, but if it is
similar to standard dreadnought classes in expense, then we can pay
for maybe two per month over several months. Now that's not
including all the light units and automated
defenses we talked about so far; we can easily afford those as well
as the dreadnoughts. But our finances really limit capital warship
production, and I shudder to think of the maintenance costs."
And he did shudder, a ripple of movement going through a mass of fat.
Anita tried not to smile and thought about the proposals.

Anita was proud of
herself that she was able to keep the intense dislike out of her
voice for the little man in front of her, and
the corporate interests that he represented.
As the Hortalez System Comptroller for New Sweden, Izo was currently
the de facto Cluster representative and he was immensely wealthy as
well. The central government of Maui Cluster was a corporate
government, namely Hortalez et Cie, and although Anita had never
really liked the megacorporations influences on local government, but
the entire Cluster was heavily
industrialized as a result of Hortalez' dominance. Compared to most
Frontier Clusters, Maui was fabulously wealthy, but that was also in
large part the major shipping of foodstuffs to the nearby megaplanet
Trantor.

The small, bald
oriental man (quite obviously of Japanese descent) did not move or
speak for several seconds, although his eyes narrowed to slits as he
gazed at the Governor. It wasn't a friendly look.

"First, madam,"
Izo began to say in a slightly haughty voice ,"Hortalez is
grateful that the New Sweden system in not taking steps to seceed
during this crisis, as many opportunistic planets have done. Of
course, loyalty is to be commended, and once physical contact with
the rest of the Cluster is re-established, that loyalty will be
rewarded. Unfortunately, it is a time of war and Hortalez' resources
are stretched very thin. Yes, very thin."
At this the slight man smiled, almost evilly, as if he was proud to
share a secret, and the roomful of people waited for the corporate
representative to continue.

"As the senior rep
of Hortalez, I am authorized by my megacorp to lend any and all
assitance to the government of New Sweden....at a twelve percent
rate."

No one spoke for a
moment, and then the massive Clarence Ridgefield practically
bellowed, "That is double the
current lending rate!" As he was sitting next to Yaizu, the
small man practically cringed, but he maintained a snarl-like smile
in spite of his neighbors' outburts.

"That's blackmail
Hortalez," Admiral Loye said in a very angry voice, but the
little man just continued to look at Anita with near contempt.

"Hortalez has a
long memory, chica,"
the oriental man spoke up. "New Sweden defaulted on loans to the
megacorp over eighty years ago, if you recall."

No one spoke for a
moment, then Anita, with a fierce look on her face said, "Okay,
but where I am from we call that living in the past." Take
that you
little Chink!

"Hortalez' memory
is long," Izo persisted.

Anita looked sharply at
him for a moment and then said, "New Sweden has a long memory as
well, and after the war, we might have a referendum or two here. And
New Sweden workers will work
even if you do call for a boycott." You
corporate hack.

No one in the room
spoke for second or two, hoping that the ugly exchange had ended and
then the Defense Minister cleared his throat and said, "I would
like to ah'so have considered the build-up of LACs." Although
the Texan had proposed the construction of a number of small craft,
no one said anything for Light Assault Craft were considered
outdated. They were much larger than fighters but were unable to
transit warp points and in minimal numbers quite deadly against
smaller capital ships.

"I agree, Sir",
the commander of Skywatch finally spoke up. "LAC's can be
deployed from my carrier bases. Once Admiral Loye's forces are at the
Goth Beg warp point, my bases will be moved forward to that
location." The small hispanic women then leaned back into her
chair, expressionless.

The Governor of New
Sweden looked around at the people in the room. "Anyone have any
other thoughts? No? Then this meeting is adjourned, and God help us
all."